Blessed Assurance

31072009

When I think of all we have talked about in regards to building a relationship, trust and feeling safe over the last few weeks it makes me think of the old hymn “Blessed Assurance” for those of you who may not know it, it goes like this….

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!

O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

REFRAIN:

This is my story, this is my song,

praising my Savior all the day long;

this is my story, this is my song,

praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,

visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

angels descending bring from above

echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

(Refrain)

Perfect submission, all is at rest;

I in my Savior am happy and blest,

watching and waiting, looking above,

filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

(Refrain)

Now when I was little I would sing this in church with my grandmother who sings VERY loud and would totally embarrass me….LOL….so as a child I hated to hear this song, but now as a grown woman, one who has fostered my own relationship with God, the words to this song have a whole new meaning. When I think of having trust and feeling safe in a relationship it really is to have Blessed Assurance = meaning to feel confidently assured that this person is who they say they are, will have your back and has your best interest at heart. So pretty much when you are assured in anything, you are confident about that thing….not worrying if it will work out or if it is what it says it is, or is who they say they are; you trust it! Much like a basketball player does with members of their team, you are confident that your team members have skills and so you pass them the ball as you trust that they will do the right thing not just for themselves but for the team. If they miss the shoot, you don’t loose your assurance, your confidence in their skills; you know that they tried their absolute best!

So if we use this same Blessed Assurance when we are looking at our relationship with God, we are safe and secure in who God is as we know He is the same today, tomorrow and forever more. We know that God does not expect us to be perfect people but to indeed try our absolute best and when we do, He will meet us where we are. Blessed Assurance says that I am confident in who God is and what He has done, not just for me but for others. It means that I have taken the time to get to know Him for myself and have seen Him move in my very own life. It is this movement that gives me MY Blessed Assurance. Blessed Assurance by way of confidence in who I am and the gifts God has given me. Let me put it this way, as Joyce Meyer said in her book “The Confident Woman”, “so, if I say I am confident, which I frequently do, I don’t mean that I am confident in myself or my abilities. I mean that I am confident in my leader, God, and the gifts, talents, and knowledge He has placed in me. I know that without Him I am nothing (John 15:5), but with Him, I can be a champion, because He brings out the best in me.” (Meyer, 2006)

Just think about it, when you have confidence you exude a certain aura about you. To have self confidence is to feel like I can do this! Instead of feeling like I can’t do anything. Your perception of self definitely has to do with how people perceive you and we all know that perception is reality. Meaning you can tell right off the bat a woman with self confidence vs. one without it. If you don’t believe me, look at the comedian Monique…do you think she has self confidence? This talk of confidence and/or assurance is what some authors call the law of attraction. Your thoughts, emotions, beliefs and actions attract matching positive or negative people, circumstances and experiences in your life. Why do I bring all of this up now as we talk about our relationship with God? Well confidence in self then dictates if we can be confident in the God that created us. You see I believe that God created each of us uniquely…He gave us each gifts and it is up to us to relish in the gift that we each are. As you delve into growing and learning about God, this is a place that you can really begin to see who you are and become confident not just in yourself but in the God who has gifted you. So that eventually we each come to our own “for such a time as this moment”(see our 1st blog in January to remind you what I mean about the “for such a time as this moment” 😉 ) .

So to walk in total Blessed Assurance, we must believe in God as well as believe in ourselves just as my momma used to always say to me… “God don’t make no junk!” which means we must believe that God created each of us special. He did not use a cookie cuter when He made YOU so find that special purpose God uniquely created inside of YOU! Some of us were called to be mothers, some teachers, preachers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, social workers, executives, etc… I am witness about this for sure!!!! As when I began to grow in God, it was in that intimate place between He and me where I found my purpose!! Little did I know that all things were really working together for my good…as God used everything I went through for my such a time as this moment which became Imani Phi Christ! So as we look at Blessed Assurance this week…what is your very own Blessed Assurance? What does your confidence rest on? What were you put on this earth to be or to do? What is YOUR story, what is YOUR song?

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves,

Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking

so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest

the glory of God that is within us.
It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission

to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.”

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One response

1082009

Linda Smith Murray(19:28:25) :

I particularly enjoyed reading this week’s blog. I have been absent for a few weeks and I now back!

Blessed Assurance the “song” is one of my favorite songs. I sang this song many times in church sitting with my mother, father, grandfather, choir and now. I really didn’t get the meaning of this song until a few life experiences found me and when those experiences took me to the valley in my life I really learned a lot about myself and emerged a more confident person and was assured by this confidence that I understood what stepping out on faith really meant. I am “Blessed” and I am “Assured” I know who holds my “Today” and my “Tomorrow”.